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NRL Captain

NOVEMBER 27, 2018The cash-strapped Cronulla Sharks have been forced to sack 10 staff members to slash costs across the business amid genuine fears of the club&rsquo;s long term viability.
Under directions from the board, chief executive Barry Russell handed out the redundancies to employees from commercial, digital/media and events on Tuesday.
The staff members will leave before Christmas.
The Daily Telegraph understands the Sharks finished last season with a $3 million loss, despite a $13 million grant from the NRL.
Cronulla Sharks CEO Barry Russell handed out the redundancies this week. Picture: AAPMORE SHARKS NEWS
The sacking will save around $1.5 million next year.
NRL boss Todd Greenberg and his finance staff are monitoring the situation closely.
The Sharks have no major sponsor for 2019. Only one of four sponsor positions on the Sharks&rsquo; jersey has been sold.
Revenue from unit sales at the development site next to Shark Park has been used to clear debts of more than $6 million rather being invested into football operations.
Cronulla&rsquo;s financial plight is of a huge concern to the NRL.
Cronulla Sharks chairman Dino Mezzatesta directed the club, along with the rest of the board, to hand out the redundancies. Picture: Brett Costello
The club is also under investigation for salary cap rorting in 2015 and revelations of a fake invoice scam and bogus $100,000 loan to players.
The club is still paying off the loan and facing a huge fine from the NRL.
The Sharks have been unable to offer coach Shane Flanagan a coaching extension because of the financial crisis.
The sackings leave the Sharks with an administration staff of only 12 and all about 25.
Cronulla Sharks coach Shane Flanagan is still waiting to see how his future at the club unfolds. Picture: Damian Shaw
They have to compete against teams like the Brisbane Broncos who employ 80 staff members.
The NRL is refusing to offer Cronulla any financial assistance.
The situation is so diabolical that a recent request for new computer equipment from the coaching staff was rejected.
There are suggestions the NRL side will be forced to play under the salary cap next year to save more costs although it will not affect the signing of champion Kiwi half-back Shaun Johnson, who will be getting the money from Valentine Holmes&rsquo; departure.
The Daily Telegraph is seeking comment from the Sharks and the NRL.
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The cash-strapped Cronulla Sharks have been forced to sack 10 staff members to slash costs across the business amid genuine fears of the club’s long term viability.
Under directions from the board, chief executive Barry Russell handed out the redundancies to employees from commercial, digital/media and events on Tuesday.
The staff members will leave before Christmas.
The Daily Telegraph understands the Sharks finished last season with a $3 million loss, despite a $13 million grant from the NRL.

Cronulla Sharks CEO Barry Russell handed out the redundancies this week. Picture: AAP
MORE SHARKS NEWS
The sacking will save around $1.5 million next year.
NRL boss Todd Greenberg and his finance staff are monitoring the situation closely.
The Sharks have no major sponsor for 2019. Only one of four sponsor positions on the Sharks’ jersey has been sold.
Revenue from unit sales at the development site next to Shark Park has been used to clear debts of more than $6 million rather being invested into football operations.
Cronulla’s financial plight is of a huge concern to the NRL.

Cronulla Sharks chairman Dino Mezzatesta directed the club, along with the rest of the board, to hand out the redundancies. Picture: Brett Costello
The club is also under investigation for salary cap rorting in 2015 and revelations of a fake invoice scam and bogus $100,000 loan to players.
The club is still paying off the loan and facing a huge fine from the NRL.
The Sharks have been unable to offer coach Shane Flanagan a coaching extension because of the financial crisis.
The sackings leave the Sharks with an administration staff of only 12 and all about 25.

Cronulla Sharks coach Shane Flanagan is still waiting to see how his future at the club unfolds. Picture: Damian Shaw
They have to compete against teams like the Brisbane Broncos who employ 80 staff members.
The NRL is refusing to offer Cronulla any financial assistance.
The situation is so diabolical that a recent request for new computer equipment from the coaching staff was rejected.
There are suggestions the NRL side will be forced to play under the salary cap next year to save more costs although it will not affect the signing of champion Kiwi half-back Shaun Johnson, who will be getting the money from Valentine Holmes’ departure.
The Daily Telegraph is seeking comment from the Sharks and the NRL.

Let the game flow and you will be rewarded.
The NRL is visiting all 16 clubs to reveal a new policy where referees will show on-field discretion for teams that employ an open and attractive game plan.
NRL head of football, elite competitions, Graham Annesley, will continue holding one-on-one meetings with club coaches, football managers and CEOs this week pushing for an attractive style to be implemented throughout this season.
The NRL’s strategic plan has an objective for entertaining football, yet statistics from the past two years show the game is slowing up through excessive stoppages — and Annesley wants that changed.

Referees will be instructed to be flexible during matches and not adopt a “one-size-fits-all” policy.
“We want more attacking and enjoyable football that will lure people through the gates and increase television ratings,” Annesley told The Daily Telegraph.

Fans are sick of predictable football. Photo by Matt King/Getty Images.
“We are trying to get the clubs on board with a different approach.
“It’s not as easy as just asking them to do that but it’s also about the referees adopting a slightly different approach if teams are prepared to co-operate.
“If we can get a more open, attractive brand of football then the referees have been instructed to allow that to happen.

“Our objective is to see games as open and free-flowing as possible by reducing stoppages and increasing the time the ball is in play. We want the referees to allow the players to take centre stage. Teams that don’t co-operate and push the boundaries will have to accept the consequences of their actions.
“It’s not going to be open slather. Teams will be still expected to comply but match officials will be encouraged to react to what happens in front of them. It’s in the hands of coaches and players.

Can the league spark for attacking play? AAP Image/Dave Hunt.
“If they do comply and co-operate, then the referees will be told to allow the game to flow. My objective is get to more attacking football and obviously referees play a role in that but so do the coaches and players.

“The policy I have instructed to the referees and their coaching staff is that they are to treat each game on its merit. I don’t mean they do anything other than that now but rather than taking a one-size-fits-all approach to every game they should wait and see what unfolds in front of them and react accordingly.”

Annesley, who adjudicated 244 first grades games, wants referees to be removed from the spotlight.
“The referees will be instructed to stay out of the game as much as possible,” Annesley said. “But that really is in the hands of the players and the co-operation they provide.
“I am briefing the clubs on what is expected for the coming year.”

The NRL wants to cut down on time wasting. Photo by Scott Barbour/Getty Images.
The NRL introduced rule changes late last year to minimise time wasting and keep the ball in play more. Those changes include a reduction of the scrum clock and dropout clock along with sin-binned players being told to leave the field by the most direct route.

“The main stats we monitor are about the number of stoppages in games, the length of stoppages in games and the amount of time the ball is in play,” Annesley said. “Unfortunately over the past few years those stats have been heading in the wrong direction. We have to try and reverse that trend.”
Annesley is also seeking feedback from clubs about last year and where they believe the game will be headed this season. He will have visited all clubs by the time trial matches start.

International Captain

“The policy I have instructed to the referees and their coaching staff is that they are to treat each game on its merit. I don’t mean they do anything other than that now but rather than taking a one-size-fits-all approach to every game they should wait and see what unfolds in front of them and react accordingly.”

things need to be black and white, otherwise the way the game is reffed and what is let go will change game to game (depending on the ref) ... maybe even within the same game (since each of the 2 refs may have different interpretations) ...

this is an bad move by the NRL ... if they have a problem with the way the game us played, then change the rules to suit an open and attractive game of footy ... they can start by getting rid of fucking wrestling, but they won't ... hell you just know that thios new refs discretion will still allow Melbourne to just lay all over the ball carriers ...

I said it last year, if they had have stuck by their guns and kept penalising players for breaking the rules, then coaches and players would have learned by now and the game would have opened up ... but this whinging from media types about penalty counts made them CAVE, when they should have just come out and said that "if teams wanted lower penalty counts against them, then they need to stop breaking the fucking rules"

NRL Captain

Ex-Broncos coach Wayne Bennett has told Triple M that Greg Inglis will be forced to sit out the first two games of the 2019 season.
Bennett, who has now moved on to the Rabibitohs, spoke to The Big Breakfast's sport correspondent Ben "Dobbo" Dobbin and confirmed that GI's knee injury has had some knock-on effects.
"Greg Inglis, they're all saying, he will not be there," Dobbo told Marto, Robin and Nick Cody on Tuesday morning.
"I spoke to Wayne about this. He won't be there for round one or two because he's 15 kilos over his playing weight."
Inglis has been battling with an old knee injury over the off-season and had already been ruled out of any trial matches, including the Indigenous All Stars on February 15.
"It's disappointing that I won't be able to play All Stars but I need to manage the body ahead of the season," he told NRL.com on Friday.
"I haven't been able to train much and I wouldn't want to go into a game of that importance and intensity underdone."
But the Broncos, on the other hand, have gone through an "unbelievable change", with Andrew McCullough telling Dobbo just how much of a difference there has been already.

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State of Origin Rep

Former Parramatta coach Daniel Anderson is set to be handed a route back into NRL as a recruitment specialist with Sydney Roosters.

The Sydney Morning Herald reports his move to the 2018 premiers comes after NRL’s integrity unit was persuaded Anderson was ready to return to the game following his deregistration for his role in the salary-cap scandal that rocked the Eels in 2016.
The 54-year-old is to link up in the Roosters front office with former Manly chief executive Joe Kelly, who was himself suspended for 12 months last March for his part in a salary cap breach at the Sea Eagles.
Former New Zealand mentor Anderson has been out of the game for two years since being admonished - along with a group of club officials known as the ‘gang of five’ - for the Eels salary saga.
But according to the newspaper’s report, he has been given the green light to take up the new role at the Roosters after convincing the NRL he is “a fit and proper person befitting registration”.
The latest development means the experienced Anderson will team up again with Roosters coach Trent Robinson, having worked together at St Gregory’s College, Campbelltown.